Purpose of the study

Get detailed information about the level of financial literacy of children and adolescents in the Russian Federation, as well as the assessment of the main factors affecting their financial behaviour.

Partners

Russia is one of the priority markets for MasterCard and we are actively promoting projects that allow us to give the necessary skills to children. Supporting the project "Children and Finance", the company contributes to increase the financial literacy of the younger generation and their parents.

The banking community represented by Association of Russian Banks has always supported and will support initiatives to increase the level of financial literacy of the population.Even if children are not clients today, it is still better for banks to meet well prepared consumers of financial services who will not learn this science from their own mistakes.

Non-profit partnership RTS unites about 100 professional participants of the financial market and conducts many projects including those that promote financial literacy.

Child & Youth Finance International (CYFI) – non-profit international organisation whose main goal is to increase the involvement of young people in the financial area, unites a number of organisations in the field of children's and youth finance. Organiser of Global Money Week.

Methodology of research

Focus Groups* with children and adolescents (6 group discussions with children of the age of 7 to 17)

All Russian survey* of parents through a personal semi-formalised interview. A sample of 1600 people (parents of children over 4 years old) in 40 regions.

Online survey* of children and adolescents, a sample of 200 people, adolescents in the age of 14-17, even age distribution, in cities with population over 1mln, 500 thousand, 250 thousand.

Desk study*, analysis of open and closed sources of information, both in Russia and in the world.

the role of raising the level of knowledge in the financial sector - that is, whether financial education is the main component of the program or only a part of a large-scale educational project (as an example of the second one can be given the United Nations program "United Nations Decade - Education for Sustainable Development" implemented in 2005-2014)

There is no universal strategy to increase financial literacy and initiatives to implement similar projects for children operate in many countries. Their main focus is the development of skills for understanding the essence of money and financial interactions by the population, development of the right attitude to the distribution of money in the family and their management.

Requirements for financial products and services for children

In 2014 in the World Bank's Global Financial Development Report, was proposed a system of basic requirements for financial products for use by children and adolescents. This system was designed to increase the availability of financial services for a young audience and should help to increase financial responsibility and consumer literacy.

The basic principles of creating friendly banking products for children and adolescents are based on the requirements that affect access, control, positive financial incentives for using financial products and services, security and the availability of an educational component in the tools which are offered to the target audience.

In the Russian Federation, the development of this market segment is at an initial stage and most offered products are promoted amongst parents. They are designed either to control costs (but not to educate children and adolescents), or to invest in the future of the younger generation. The most flexible products are now part of the premium products available to parents belonging to a highly profitable audience.

Financial literacy of children and adolescents in Russia

Just over half of children and adolescents in Russia receive cash from their parents in the form of pocket money and of these, only a third receives money regularly. If the child is unable to receive income from other sources, for instance, through part-time work or scholarships - and this is only about a quarter of Russian children-, getting practical skills in handling money would only be possible to implement after reaching working age, which could lead to high risk and irresponsible behavior and welfare decrease of such consumers.

For those children who receive money from their parents or from other sources, the risk factor in the formation of financial strategy could be the absence of a well thought-out system of rules by the giving pocket money by parents and regulating control of their children's spending, and furthermore, the practice of children's and adolescent's inclusion to maintain the budget and getting knowledge about financial products and services.

PR activities

On the 28th October, a press conference on "Children and Finance: Risks and Growth Points" was held at the TASS Press Center, which was attended by 50 journalists and market participants who were interested in the topic. To participate as a speaker, were invited:

Ilya Kochetkov, head of service advisor of Bank of Russia for the consumer rights protection of financial services and minority shareholders.

Anna Zelentsova, coordinator of the project of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation "Promoting the level financial literacy of population and the development of financial education in the Russian Federation”

Elman Mechtiev, executive Vice-President of the Association of Russian Banks

Galina Ganeeva, vice president of MasterCard Russia.

Anatoliy Gavrilenko, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the nonprofit partnership for the development of the RTS Financial Market (NP RTS)